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Lydia Davis Quotes


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Quotes by Lydia Davis

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Often, the idea that there can be a wide range of translations of one text doesn't occur to people - or that a translation could be bad, very bad, and unfaithful to the original.

~Lydia Davis

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The existence of another, competing translation is a good thing, in general, and only immediately discouraging to one person - the translator who, after one, two, or three years of more or less careful work, sees another, and perhaps superior, version appear as if overnight.

~Lydia Davis

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If a translation doesn't have obvious writing problems, it may seem quite all right at first glance. We readers, after all, quickly adapt to the style of a translator, stop noticing it, and get caught up in the story.

~Lydia Davis

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My stories are sometimes closer to poems or meditations, but often there is at least a little narrative in them.

~Lydia Davis

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I do see an interest in writing for Twitter. While publishers still do love the novel and people do still like to sink into one, the very quick form is appealing because of the pace of life.

~Lydia Davis

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I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing!

~Lydia Davis

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I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.

~Lydia Davis

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I never dream in French, but certain French words seem better or more fun than English words - like 'pois chiches' for chick peas!

~Lydia Davis

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I don't pare down much. I write the beginning of a story in a notebook and it comes out very close to what it will be in the end. There is not much deliberateness about it.

~Lydia Davis

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I am basically the sort of person who has stage-fright teaching. I kind of creep into a classroom. I'm not an anecdote-teller, either, although I often wish I were.

~Lydia Davis

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Writer

Born: July 15th, 1947

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